Mammals

About Mammals

Many of the largest animals you’ll see at the Houston Zoo are mammals. All mammals have certain characteristics that make them mammals – one of them is that they all have either fur or hair. An animal doesn’t need to be covered in hair or fur, but if they have some on their body, that means they are a mammal! For example, an elephant doesn’t look like it has much hair, but look closer…you’ll see that there are lots of long hairs, especially on its back.You can find mammals on land, in the water, and even in the sky! Most have feet to walk and run, but marine mammals, like sea lions, have flippers or fins to swim. They are still mammals though, so they must breathe air (another important mammal characteristic). There’s only one true flying mammal, which is the bat. You can find bats at the Zoo in Natural Encounters and in the Children’s Zoo if you want to get a closer look at these amazing animals.

Mammals eat all kinds of different foods – from plants to meat to everything in between. A carnivore is an animal that eats meat, or other animals. These animals have very sharp teeth that are used to rip and tear meat, like lions or tigers. Herbivores, like elephants, eat only plants. They have very flat teeth that help to grind and mash down all the plants they eat. So what do you call animals like us that eat both meat and plants? Omnivores! We and other animals that are omnivores have both sharp and flat teeth for ripping meat and grinding plants.